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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27205870">the importance of being respectful</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/tkreyesevandiaz/pseuds/tkreyesevandiaz'>tkreyesevandiaz</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>in anatomy we trust [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>9-1-1 (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - College/University, Anatomy, Attempt at Humor, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Domestic Fluff, Established Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz, Established Relationship, Family Fluff, Fluff, Inspired by Real Events, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mild Language, The Author Projected, teaching assistant AU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:20:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,762</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27205870</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/tkreyesevandiaz/pseuds/tkreyesevandiaz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A college AU following Buck and Eddie's experiences as Anatomy Lab TAs</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Evan "Buck" Buckley &amp; Christopher Diaz &amp; Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>in anatomy we trust [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2018978</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>123</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>the importance of being respectful</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Firstly, I'm an Anatomy Lab TA, so this is literally me projecting and it's been in the works for a while.</p><p>Secondly, literally everything in this has happened, and is pretty true, only tweaked to allow me to fit the 118 in properly.</p><p>Thirdly, if you're confused/curious about anything, go ahead and drop a question in my inbox or in the comments and I'd be happy to clear it up!</p><p>Warnings: Cadaver talk, mild descriptions of working with cadavers, talk of disrespect, mild language</p><p>Keep in mind how important it is to respect people who decide to donate their bodies to science. If you can't do that, don't read this.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cadaver days were the best days, and Buck stood by that.</p><p>He sprinted out after his ethics class to meet Eddie at their usual table outside the campus café, weaving between all the walkers in his rush. His boyfriend was already waiting for him, slouched in a seat as he tapped away on his phone.</p><p>“Hey,” Buck breathed out as he slid into the seat across from him, panting hard. Eddie looked up and grinned at him.</p><p>“Excited?”</p><p>He laughed, picking up the cup Eddie pushed his way. “Oh, you know it. Here’s the bet. At least two kids are going to leave the room.”</p><p>“One.”</p><p>“Twenty bucks and our next date says it’s at least two.”</p><p>“Deal,” Eddie countered, flipping his phone to show him a picture of Christopher chewing on a teething ring. Buck’s heart stopped at how adorable their son looked as he cooed over it.</p><p>“He giving Carla a hard time?” </p><p>His boyfriend snorted, giving the screen another warm glance before stuffing the phone back into his pocket. “Hardly. It’s unbelievable this is the same baby I left with her an hour ago.”</p><p>Christopher had started teething later than usual, around the nine month mark instead of the four month mark, but given that it’d been nearly three months since then, Buck and Eddie had been running on the least amount of sleep because of how much pain their kid was in.</p><p>It broke their hearts every time. They’d tried everything under the sun — teething gels, cool teethers, chilling baby food before giving it to him, teething crackers and even massaging his gums as carefully as they could. The cool teethers worked best but Chris still got fussy about it.</p><p>Regardless, he seemed to be doing better during the day while Buck and Eddie attended classes, so that was a reprieve. Today, Buck had a morning class so he’d had to rush out just as Chris was screaming his head off, much to his own dismay even as Eddie had bodily shoved him out the door so he wouldn't be late. He just hated leaving their kid crying. </p><p>“Ready?” Eddie asked, zipping his bag up. Buck drained the last of the cup before darting over to drop it with the other dirty dishes.</p><p>“Let’s go!” he said eagerly, almost dragging his boyfriend along. Eddie teased him about his excitement the whole way there, but Buck knew that he was just as excited. Cadaver days were genuinely the best days.</p><p>They smiled politely at the students waiting outside the lab, knocking on the door to the adjoining office. Theirs was the first section of the lab, so they got to set the cadavers out completely. It was the day Buck looked forward to the most of the whole week. </p><p>Hen pulled it open, took one look at Buck and burst out laughing. </p><p>He rolled his eyes and walked in to see Bobby setting up his lesson plan. “Hey, Bobby.”</p><p>“Hey guys, how’s it going?”</p><p>“He hasn’t stopped vibrating since last week,” Eddie ratted him out immediately. Buck’s jaw dropped as he shoved his boyfriend towards where Chim and Hen were <em> both </em>laughing.</p><p>“Neither have <em> you </em>. He was trying to rehearse his whole station in front of a one year old. Christopher was just staring at him like he was insane.”</p><p>Bobby laughed, pointing towards where the new lab coats were stacked, waiting for them to scrawl their names on the pockets. “Well, have at it, then.”</p><p>Chim passed him the Sharpie. “Buck gets first dibs, I assume.”</p><p>“You got that right,” Buck huffed, making a face at Eddie as he grabbed one of the blue coats.</p><p>As the clock ticked over to 11, Bobby moved out of the back office to open the lab door for the students. The rest of them took a seat around the table in the office, pulling out their notes for their respective stations.</p><p>“What does everyone have today?” Eddie asked. “I’ve got posterior forearm and hand muscles.”</p><p>“I’m on anterior trunk, chest, anterior arm and respiratory muscles,” Hen said.</p><p>“I have anterior forearm and carpal tunnel,” Chim piped up, flipping through their anatomy textbook for the diagrams.</p><p>“I have the posterior trunk and arm, superficial back and…” Buck trailed off, rifling through their spreadsheet for the last one, “...shoulder.”</p><p>“Buckaroo’s gonna get to peel back that trapezius,” Hen teased. </p><p>“Last time I did that, one of the students nearly fainted,” he pointed out. It’d been a mess; the poor guy had fainted on the floor in front of everyone, and they had to call 911 because of procedure for him. Thankfully he was okay, but he’d dropped the class near immediately after that.</p><p>“That was one guy. And I don’t know what all of these kids get worked up about, they know from the very first class that they’re going to see the cadavers.” Chim shook his head. </p><p>“And it’s not like you can escape the smell of formaldehyde. The lab stinks so strongly of it.”</p><p>“At this point, I smell it for the first five seconds and that’s it,” Eddie said, reaching past Buck to steal his pen. </p><p>Buck glared at him before taking it back. “Sensory adaptation,” he sing-songed as Eddie rolled his eyes. </p><p>“Children,” Chim muttered, burying his face back in the book.</p><p>“Uh, you <em> have </em>to put up with me. That’s the consequence of being engaged to my sister,” Buck retaliated. “And Eddie and I are a package deal, just like you and Hen are, so there’s no winning for any of us.”</p><p>“You somehow used the wrong formula to get the right answer.” Hen leaned across the table to give him a high-five as they laughed at Chim’s expense.</p><p>“Well, for Maddie, it’s worth it.” Buck shook his head, turning back to his notes.</p><p>This group of friends made this one of the best classes, if he was being honest.</p><p>Buck had known them the entirety of his college life, and he and Eddie had been dating for the past year and a half. This semester, it had just worked out for all four of them to co-teach the same block, and they’d jumped at the opportunity.</p><p>Hen and Chim were both grad students, Hen getting her masters in Biomedical Engineering and Chim working towards his MBA. In fact, now that Buck thought about it, Hen was probably the only one that had anything to do with biology. Eddie was an architecture major on a work-study program from the VA and Buck was a history major. All of them had taken this class as an elective, scoring high enough to apply to be a teaching assistant. </p><p>Buck and Eddie had taken the class together five semesters ago and Chim had been their TA then. In fact, it had been Chim to encourage them to apply, even knowing they weren’t pre-med like most of the students that applied for this position. Bobby had been their professor then, too, so it only made sense that they’d teach under his supervision.</p><p>Their lab was three hours long. The first hour would be Bobby teaching the material before handing the reins to the TAs to conduct stations.</p><p>Buck looked forward to this class because he loved being able to teach people different parts of the body using models and pictures and the two full skeletons respectively named Bob One and Bob Two.</p><p>(not named after Bobby by any chance)</p><p>“How’s Christopher doing?” Chim asked suddenly, leaning back in his chair. </p><p>Eddie grinned, showing them the picture of him teething. “He drooled all over Buck last night while he was trying to put him to sleep, as he's grown more irritable as his teeth come in, but other than that, he's great.”</p><p>“I’ve given up on wearing good shirts in the house, honestly,” Buck shrugged. Baby spit or not, rocking Chris to sleep was still fun because he got to hold their child close for at least ten minutes without Eddie stealing him away.</p><p>He remembered the day Eddie had found out that his ex-girlfriend was pregnant. He and Eddie had been best friends long before they started dating, and when Shannon had told him she was pregnant, Eddie had no clue what to do, except to tell her that he was with her no matter what decision she chose to make.</p><p>But Buck remembered how terrified he’d actually been, standing on his doorstep at one in the morning, trembling as the shock wore off. Shannon had decided that she was giving the baby up for adoption but Eddie’s heart had latched on once he found out Shannon wanted to carry the baby and hadn’t let go.</p><p>It had been difficult for Buck and Eddie, who’d started dating during her pregnancy, to suddenly make the decision to add another dependent to them so early into their relationship, but Buck wouldn’t have it any other way. They’d adopted Christopher instantly, letting Shannon know she was always welcome in Christopher’s life if she wanted to be. </p><p>The day they brought Chris home, they’d cried for a solid twenty minutes just looking at this tiny human who’d very easily become the center of their world. But they were happy, no matter how young they were, and in the blink of an eye, a year had passed.</p><p>“Alright, you guys are up,” Bobby announced as he walked back in, nudging the doorstop under the door to keep it propped open. Buck hopped out of the seat and tugged the coat on, smirking at his boyfriend.</p><p>The students were pulling on the white plastic coats as they stared apprehensively at the four huge cadaver carts pushed to one corner of the room. They looked more menacing than they actually were with the sloping stainless steel cover. Or maybe it was the anticipation of knowing that there was an actual cadaver in there, not a model.</p><p>Whatever it was, Buck picked out at least three students who already looked pale.</p><p>Hen directed a few of them to move the lab tables out of the way so they could move the carts in and Chim was busy making sure they had enough gloves for students who wanted to touch. Buck moved to snap his own gloves on, thankful that they had his size for once today.</p><p>“Be prepared to eat your words, Buckley,” Eddie whispered as he brushed past to grab some gloves of his own. </p><p>Buck only smiled wider, grabbing one end of the cart as Eddie took the other. “At least two,” he mouthed, winking when he was sure no one was looking. A light flush took over his boyfriend’s face even as he rolled his eyes.</p><p>The four of them got each cart set up, plugging the vent in and making sure the drip at the bottom worked. </p><p>“Move back, folks, I don’t want to hit any of you with this,” Buck warned as he pulled the right lid down, latching it in place on both sides. It was heavier than it looked, and the initial burst of formaldehyde made him wrinkle his nose a little.</p><p>But that was nothing compared to the gasps littering through the room as the four of them completely uncovered each cart. Buck turned quickly at the sound of the door opening, counting four people leaving the room. Bobby was leaning in the door frame, clad in scrubs and a sympathetic expression as students rushed past him.</p><p>It was everything he could do to keep from fist-pumping the air, settling for giving Eddie a triumphant grin from across the room. His boyfriend rolled his eyes as he began his station.</p><p>(Honestly, Buck could listen to Eddie teach all day)</p><p>He turned back to the five people gathered around his cart, clutching clipboards and notebooks. The first cadaver day was always filled with a million questions and Buck liked to give them the opportunity to ask before they got into the grit of it. “Alright, so, first things first, remember the contract you signed about respecting the cadavers. These people do us a huge favour by contributing their bodies so we can learn, and the very least we can do is respect that. You are absolutely allowed to touch, Chim laid gloves out for you all if you want to, but no pressure if you don’t want to. If you touch one cadaver, change your gloves before touching another. Any questions before I start?”</p><p>“Will these cadavers be on the exam?”</p><p>Buck smiled and nodded. “Maybe not this exact cadaver but you will be tested on structures on two of them. It could be any two, honestly — whichever has the better vantage point. Bobby pins the structures and asks you two questions per station.”</p><p>“Is it scary teaching these?”</p><p>“It can be intimidating, but no, I don’t think it’s scary, per say. Uncovering them is always a little shock, especially if they’re face up but I don’t know if I want to be desensitized to that. I personally think of the reason we have these, and that’s that for me. Anything else?”</p><p>There were a few shakes of heads before Buck shrugged and moved to uncover the skin of the back.</p><p>“Alright, so, we’re going to start with our posterior back and trunk. This is the trapezius…”</p>
<hr/><p>More than not, their voices were gone by the end of the class.</p><p>Talking for two hours straight did that to them, and Eddie knew that their voices would be gone by tomorrow.</p><p>As they picked up after the first class, spraying each cadaver down with a mix of water and nourishing agents to keep the structures from drying up, Eddie glanced over to where Buck was busy showing a student the posterior arm again, periodically clearing his throat.</p><p>It wasn’t uncommon for people to stay back after class to get another look, given that the only times they could see each cadaver were during the class period. But there was something about watching Buck focus that got to him in the best way possible.</p><p>As he thought it, he felt a little ridiculous, given that he and Buck had been doing this same job for quite a while. He saw Buck like this every week. The novelty, though, never seemed to wear off — Buck genuinely loved what he did here, and it was endearing to see.</p><p>Eddie finished up wrapping his cadaver before latching the cart shut and switching his gloves out to join Buck over at his. </p><p>“The three heads of triceps brachii can be hard to find because they overlap but if you just remember where they attach, you can trace the tendon down,” he was saying when Eddie joined them. “That’s the general pattern for muscles and then if you remember those origins and insertions, you can figure out their actions too.” He stayed quiet as Buck went through each head and the individual origins and common insertion before the girl thanked him and moved on.</p><p>“I love watching you teach,” he said quietly as they began taking pins out and spraying the cadaver down seamlessly. </p><p>Buck laughed, nudging him aside with his hip so the spray didn’t splatter over him. “Funny, I was thinking the same about you.”</p><p>As they began pushing the cart into the storage room, Buck’s eyes widened and Eddie internally groaned, already knowing what this was about.</p><p>“You owe me twenty bucks, Diaz. And a date.”</p><p>“No, you said two people. Four people left,” Eddie argued.</p><p>“Hey now, I said <em> at least </em>two people. You said only one, why in hell would you do that?” Buck defended. </p><p>“Well, none left last semester!” Eddie exclaimed, stepping away to lock the storage room door. “It’s pure guessing, and using words like ‘at least’ is definitely cheating. I could’ve said at least one and then neither of us would’ve won.”</p><p>“You should’ve, then,” he said smugly. “Not my fault I was smart enough to cover all my bases.”</p><p>Eddie scoffed as they scrubbed their hands. “Shut up.”</p><p>“Anyway, aside from you being a sore loser, you’re done for the day, right?”</p><p>He went through his schedule in his head. “Uh...I think so. My five o’clock class got cancelled and I have a meeting with a professor but it’s virtual. You?”</p><p>“Nope, I’m going home to Chris,” Buck shook his hands <em> before </em>using the paper towel, a fact that never failed to drive Eddie up the wall. </p><p>“I’m right behind you, then.”</p><p>“How was it?” Bobby asked, turning away from his computer to look at them. Chim and Hen were nowhere to be seen, probably rushing off to their next class.</p><p>“It was <em> awesome </em>,” Buck gushed, just as excited as he’d been the first semester they’d taught this class. Eddie smiled privately to himself as he slid his laptop into his bag.</p><p>“A smart bunch, honestly,” he said. “A few of them pointed the muscles out even after I took the pins out to quiz them.”</p><p>“If they can do that for hand muscles, they’re geniuses,” Bobby laughed.</p><p>“Well I also had the posterior forearm, so...I think that in itself proves it,” Eddie added. There were twelve muscles in the posterior forearm, and at least three students had rattled the names off quickly and correctly. “Are some of them retaking the course?”</p><p>“Why does nothing ever slip past you?” Buck grumbled good-naturedly, leaning against the wall as they waited for Bobby to answer.</p><p>“Spot on, Eddie. Seven of these students are retaking it.” Their professor looked impressed, which made Eddie laugh. The conversation broke as the next batch of TAs knocked.</p><p>“We’ll see you next week, Bobby,” Buck waved, Eddie waving right along as he followed his boyfriend out. </p><p>“Bye guys, have a great weekend!” he called out after them. </p><p>“You peeled back the trapezius, didn’t you,” Eddie deadpanned as Buck’s little hop-skip only got happier, for lack of better words to describe whatever it was. Buck’s joy was evident through his whole body and Eddie loved that the most about him.</p><p>“I peeled back the trapezius.”</p><p>Eddie laughed loudly, his voice echoing across the hall, tugging Buck into a small alcove to press a fast kiss to his lips. “You’re adorable.”</p><p>“God, Edmundo, shut <em> up </em>,” Buck groaned, kissing him until they could hear footsteps echoing, pulling back to grin cheekily. “Race you home.”</p><p>“Oh absolutely not, we are not car-racing home.” They bickered the whole way to the parking lot, Buck finally conceding that they were not about to break any laws today.</p><p>Victorious at having won this battle, Eddie climbed into his trunk, ready to get home to his family.</p>
<hr/><p>The semester went by smoothly until the fourth unit.</p><p>The fourth unit was always the easiest, but because they usually did the digestive, vascular, pulmonary, urinary and reproductive systems all in one, it could be hectic on everyone.</p><p>Today, Hen was busy having the students draw their own Circles of Willis while Chim was inflating the lungs much to the students’ utter excitement.  </p><p>Buck was doing the urinary and reproductive models, but Eddie was responsible for showing them the tissues on the male cadaver after he finished with the digestive system.</p><p>This was one of his favourite units, because it was always amusing to see the students stare wide-eyed as he pulled the intestines out of the cadaver. Not to mention, having them sit and draw out the biliary system gave his throat a little reprieve. </p><p>Eddie glanced around the lab as his group began copying down the diagram he’d drawn, chattering amongst himself. </p><p>Chim was pointing out the different structures of the lung, Hen was demonstrating the arteries on a cadaver and Buck…</p><p>Eddie recognized that look. That was the look Buck got when he was pissed but was too polite to yell.</p><p>He scanned the table to find one of the students playing with the penis model. That particular model was made of plastic and Eddie knew it had the tendency to fall apart. And it was funny that it did that, maybe the first time, but the look on Buck’s face had him thinking that they weren’t shutting up about it.</p><p>“Eddie?” Jenny, one of the shy students, caught his attention, holding her piece of paper up. “Is this correct?”</p><p>He scanned it over, noting one missing label. “You’re missing the cystic duct, but other than, it’s great. Good job!” He glanced over at everyone else, seeing that some of them still had a few more structures to draw. “Two more minutes, then we hop on the cadaver, okay?”</p><p>Looking back over at his boyfriend, he noticed that it was unnervingly quiet at his station now, Buck continuing on teaching with a slight crease between his brow. All of the students looked properly chastised and it clicked what Buck must’ve said to them.</p><p>
  <em> “What do you do to make them stop laughing?” Hen complained, putting all the models back in the correct spots. “It’s just a freaking penis. They’re twenty, not twelve.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “There’s really no way of predicting it, unfortunately,” Bobby answered sympathetically. “I get ‘hey, what happens if my dick breaks’ every single time I teach the male reproductive system. The only thing I’ve figured out is just stare as impassively as you can when you answer the question.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “People really have the balls to stand up and ask what to do if their dick breaks in front of 30 other people to a freaking professor.” Chim shook his head, eyebrows disappearing into his hairline. “Man, social anxiety doesn’t exist in some people, does it.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Do you still show the picture of Peyronie’s disease?” Eddie asked, remembering that Bobby had when they’d taken the class. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Yup,” Bobby shrugged. “It’s the most common question, might as well teach a little pathology along with it.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I just tell them to repeat the joke to the whole class. Makes them think twice,” Buck pitched in, directing it at Hen. “Honestly, it does get old, but that trick quiets them instantly.” </em>
</p><p>If Eddie had to guess, that’s what Buck had done, and while he’d privately told Eddie he didn’t like embarrassing students, there was nothing else to do when they were being disruptive to the other station members.</p><p>“Okay, let’s take a look at it over here. Here we have our stomach, and there are a couple regions…”</p><p>It wasn’t until Eddie was showing them the penile tissues on the cadaver that he heard it.</p><p>“Hey, look, they cut his dick,” one of the class clowns barked out, laughing.</p><p>Immediately, Eddie stopped talking, a wash of anger overtaking him. A stillness fell over the rest of his stations, and slowly, the other TAs voices quieted down one by one, starting with Hen next to him, who was staring at him wide-eyed, then Chim who noticed and then Buck who was always in tune.</p><p>He hardly glanced at them as he slowly pulled his hands back from the cadaver, jerking a thumb towards the door.</p><p>“Get out.” Eddie used his calmest voice, looking the kid right in the eye.</p><p>The kid immediately put up a protest. “Look man, I’m sorr–”</p><p>“I don’t care. Leave.” This time, he let his no-nonsense tone seep into his voice, silencing whatever dumbass arguments the kid had immediately. He could save them for the board. Out of his peripheral vision, he could see the other TAs bringing the students back to concentrate on their own stations, one eye on his station.</p><p>“Derek, leave the class, and wait outside,” Bobby’s voice came from behind him, just as tight as Eddie’s own. He relaxed marginally for having handled it properly, looking back at Bobby who gave him a thumbs up.</p><p>“Does that happen a lot?” Sean asked as the classroom slowly resumed its previous noise level. </p><p>Eddie sighed. “No, not at all. This is the first time it’s happened in one of my semesters. Anyway, we only have ten minutes, so let me get through a little quizzing with you.”</p>
<hr/><p>He didn’t get a chance to see Buck until they met at home later that evening. Bobby had kept him back to write an incident report and by the time he was finished, Buck had texted saying that he’d had to rush off to class, and that he’d meet him at home.</p><p>His bad mood soured the rest of the day, enough that Eddie skipped his art history class to go home early to Chris. </p><p>He was still thinking about it when the door creaked open, signaling Buck’s return back home. Eddie stayed lying where he was on the couch, Chris drooling on his shirt where he was sprawled across his chest.</p><p>“Hey, buddy,” Buck tiptoed in, swinging Chris off Eddie’s chest and into his arms, blowing a raspberry to make him giggle. The sight took some of the tension from his shoulders. He sighed as Buck sat down, dropping his keys on the side table. He reached out for his boyfriend and son, pulling them close until Buck was resting against his chest and Chris against Buck’s.</p><p>“Want to tell me what happened today?”</p><p>Eddie pressed a kiss against his boyfriend’s temple, taking in his familiar scent to calm himself down. “Derek decided he was a real jokester. You know how some of the cadavers have their penises cut to show the two tissues inside? Well this kid thought it was the funniest thing in the world and decided to laugh about someone cutting off his dick.”</p><p>Buck winced, shaking his head. “How did Bobby take it?”</p><p>“He was super pissed. And for Bobby, that’s a feat.” Bobby was the most chill professor they'd ever had, and for him to be as angry as Eddie had seen him today was almost unnatural. “He had me fill out the incident report. Told me that the board might call me in if they have questions about the student’s conduct.”</p><p>“It’s never happened before though. I don’t even know what they do about those.”</p><p>Chris began babbling loudly, fussing in Buck’s arms to make his hunger known. Eddie dislodged himself from the cuddle pile, putting a hand on Buck’s shoulder to sit him down as he went to warm up milk and pull out grapes for their kid to eat. Buck followed anyway, leaning against the counter, sitting Chris down in the counter seat.</p><p>“The department has a meeting. Bobby can’t tell the student to drop out of the class legally, so the board will recognize that he signed a contract and then violated it, and will make him drop. Then the incident gets filed. It’s serious because the universities that send us these cadavers are not going to like it.”</p><p>“They’ll stop sending us cadavers,” Buck deduced. Eddie nodded, giving Chris the grapes, earning himself a toothy smile that made him smile despite himself.</p><p>“You know, it’s not even the fact that we might not get cadavers anymore that pisses me. It’s that we went two units drilling it into their heads that the cadavers were meant to be respected and then one dumbass goes out and does this. Like...how heartless do you have to be to not recognize the privilege you’re granted by being able to view structures exactly as they appear in an actual body. Some anatomy labs use simulations or only pictures,” he ranted, probably slamming the microwave shut a tad harder than he should’ve. He tested the milk against his wrist before passing it to Buck.</p><p>“It’s ridiculous and disgusting, but you said it yourself. It was just one student. And I don’t think the students and Chim’s station and my station heard exactly what he said, but the ones that did were clearly taken aback. They knew how offensive it is to insult cadavers like that,” Buck pointed out as he set it on the cup holder. "I think Hen's station heard it loud and clear."</p><p>"Yeah, but it still sucks that it happened." Eddie watched their son eat, cocking his head at the peculiar movement of his fingers. He made a mental note to bring it up during Chris’ next pediatric appointment before bringing it up to his boyfriend. “Hey Buck, do you think we should talk to Dr. Mali about Chris’ hands?”</p><p>Buck pulled back from where he was rummaging through the fridge, taking a long look at Chris. “Yeah, and maybe his legs, too. Have you noticed that he hasn’t really started walking the way other fifteen month old babies do?”</p><p>Eddie rubbed his forehead, walking around to press a kiss to the crown of his son’s head. “Yeah. Let’s make a list, and maybe make an appointment as soon as possible.”</p><p>“Eddie, we’ll be fine. You’ll be fine, I’ll be fine, Chris’ll be fine and fuc-dge Derek.” The matter-of-fact tone with the corrected swear word made Eddie laugh instantly, making Buck beam widely at him. “Look, there’s no point in worrying about anything right now. Chris' 15-month appointment is supposed to be soon, and we'll schedule it for this weekend. And Bobby said he’d take care of this douche-canoe, and he will. The department, <em>if</em> they call you, will probably ask if you saw any indication that Derek wasn’t respecting the cadavers, how important you think it is to keep this lab, and all that. They might even call me, Hen and Chim, too. It’s not going to affect you personally.”</p><p>“I don’t care if it affects me, I just want people to stop being disgusting,” Eddie muttered.</p><p>“Tough luck there, my love, people are always gross,” Buck said, bending back to look in the fridge. “We have spaghetti or yesterday’s Chinese takeout for dinner. Or I can make us something.”</p><p>“Nah, I can reheat the spaghetti, go get changed.” He pushed off the counter to take the container from Buck’s hands, leaning up to kiss him as he did so. “Chris, you want more grapes?”</p><p>Chris clapped his hands together, repeatedly saying “yeah!” Eddie washed a few more before pulling him out of the counter seat to set him in the high chair, bringing the cup of milk over. “You have to finish all of this, okay?”</p><p>He watched their kid closely as the spaghetti reheated. Chris usually had a harder time picking up a cup than other toddlers his age, which had prompted them to order weighted glasses that didn’t spill over, but didn’t make it harder for toddlers to pick up.</p><p>He shook out of those thoughts as the microwave beeped, just as Buck came out, clad in one of Eddie’s T-shirts and basketball shorts.</p><p>“You did that on purpose,” Eddie pointed out, leaning back into his boyfriend as Buck wrapped an arm around his waist, feathering a kiss across his neck that had his pulse jumping. He stayed right where he was, pulling Buck's arm tighter around him until they had to move.</p><p>“Maybe I did.” Winking, Buck stole the container from him, grabbing paper plates to dump the food on. At Eddie’s look, he just shrugged and said, “what? We’re not washing dishes after the day we’ve had.”</p><p>That was valid; Eddie could deal with that.</p><p>“Dada!” Chris called out, pointing towards their food. He hadn’t quite learned to distinguish who was who yet, evident through multiple days where he’d start crying when one of them showed up instead of the other.</p><p>“He’s hungry today,” Buck commented as he fed Chris a bite.</p><p>“What happened at your station today? Was it the penis model?” Eddie asked.</p><p>“You got it. And okay, look, the screws on that thing are loose because it’s like a million years old,” Buck exaggerated wildly, looking fully offended when Chris shied away from his plate to point at Eddie’s instead. Eddie took over feeding him as Buck continued. “The pieces falling apart are only funny like the first few times. This is the second time we did that station for these kids, like...we get that it falls apart. I’m probably not even going to use it next week.”</p><p>“Did you use it this time?”</p><p>“No, I had to confiscate it,” Buck mumbled, before choking a little with laughter at Eddie’s grin. “Shut up.”</p><p>“It’s a little funny when you say it like that,” Eddie conceded.</p><p>“Not even a little,” he said, fighting back a grin of his own. “Oh, and I got asked today what the male G-spot is.”</p><p>Eddie burst out laughing at that one, which in turn made Christopher start laughing. “You would know that one.”</p><p>Buck rolled his eyes, reaching under the table to pinch his thigh. He slapped his hand away, still laughing. “Again, it’s not that funny.”</p><p>Eddie finally calmed down and shrugged. “You’re the one who said people are gross.” </p><p>They both finished eating, the atmosphere lighter than it’d been when Buck came home. </p><p>“So...I believe I still owe you that date,” Eddie changed the subject, setting his fork down to help Chris with the cup.</p><p>“So you do. And the twenty bucks.”</p><p>“Mhm. Yeah. Anyway, I thought...maybe Friday night? Since Maddie said she’d watch Chris?”</p><p>“You want to go without Chris?” Buck stared at him, surprised.</p><p>“Well, we can go with him, too, if you want. I just thought that we haven’t had a date with just the two of us in...five months.”</p><p>Buck looked to be cross-checking that number in his head before looking wide-eyed at him. “You’re right. But to be fair, having Chris there is fun.”</p><p>Eddie chuckled. “Yes, but I think we do deserve a night out, especially after the past few weeks. Once finals come around in two weeks, we’re not going to get to do anything.”</p><p>“Sounds good to me.”</p><p>As Chris drained the rest of his cup, giving them a milky smile, Eddie picked up their plates, tossing them into the trash as Buck grabbed their backpacks and brought them over, along with Christopher’s coloring book.</p><p>“You’d think a day like this would absolve us of homework,” Eddie said, pulling out his laptop, already resisting the urge to smash his head against it.</p><p>“Come on, Eddie, it’ll be fun! Just you and me, doing our homework after a bad day, and then we get to go pile in bed.”</p><p>Eddie stared at Buck as his boyfriend began working on what looked like French homework, and Chris as he began coloring Donald Duck, wondering what he’d done in his life to get this. </p><p>As he got to work on the lecture he'd skipped, Eddie smiled to himself.</p><p>It’d been a bad day, but they were here, and he was okay.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>How was that!! We're actually 5 TAs per section, and funnily enough, my professor's name is Christopher xD All the procedures mentioned above are true.</p><p>Do not look up Peyronie's disease if you're faint of heart or if you're at work or something. It's a disease where fibrous scar tissue causes the penis to bend.</p><p>Side note: if any of Chris' development looks off to you, it's because it's supposed to. 15-month old toddlers with CP actually begin to exhibit some warning signs, if not before, and given what we know on the show (which is actually very little), I tried to craft it as accurate as possible. Keep in mind that in mild movement disorders, doctors have to rule out a multitude of options before making a full diagnosis, which can take a very long time.</p><p>Anyway.</p><p>Kudos and Comments make my day, so thank you to everyone who leaves them! I love hearing what you guys think, and anyone who takes time out of their day to comment has my heart and soul ♥</p><p>You can find me on Tumblr at <a href="https://www.tumblr.com/blog/zeethebooknerd">zeethebooknerd</a> or on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/tkreyesevandiaz">tkreyesevandiaz</a>.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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